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Trump order limits anti-abortion protest prosecutions; Federal case against five protestors at Fort Myers clinic to be dismissed

Planned Parenthood Fort Myers
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WGCU
Planned Parenthood, Fort Myers

A lawsuit against five people who allegedly violated the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Fort Myers in 2022 will be dropped, lawyers representing the anti-abortion protestors confirmed Friday.

Three of the five are also among 23 convicted anti-abortion proponents who were pardoned by President Donald Trump Thursday.

The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE ACT, prohibits using force, threats of force or physical obstruction against any person because they are seeking or providing reproductive health services.

On Friday President Trump issued an order limiting enforcement of the FACE Act. The order means those FACE Act prosecutions still on the legal docket — such as the Fort Myers case — will be dismissed.

The 23 pardoned Thursday were convicted of violating the act and some had been in prison. Three of them — Calvin Zastrow of Michigan, Eva Zastrow of Arkansas, and Chester Gallagher of Tennessee — were still facing court action for committing violations of the FACE Act in Fort Myer.

The Thursday pardons for the Zastrows and Gallagher were for convictions stemming from similar violations in Nashville and Detroit and not the federal suit. Calvin Zastrow, according to federal prison records, is currently being held in a Federal Correctional Institution in Thomson, Illinois. No similar information was available on Eva Zastrow or on Gallagher.

Also, according to the order, prosecutions and civil actions under the FACE Act will now be permitted only in “extraordinary circumstances” or in cases presenting “significant aggravating factors.”

Earlier this month, Thomas More Society attorneys submitted to the Trump administration formal requests for presidential pardons on behalf of 21 of those pro-life advocates who were prosecuted, convicted, and in several cases, imprisoned, by the Department of Justice.

The Thomas More Society describes itself as a national not-for-profit law firm "dedicated to restoring respect in law for life, family, and freedom" and is headquartered in Chicago and with offices across the country.

“These cases should have never been brought and we are thankful to the Trump administration for righting that wrong," Peter Breen, Thomas More Society Executive Vice President and Head of Litigation, said.

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Besides the Zastrows and Gallagher, the following were the pro-life advocates listed on the pardon requests: Joan Bell, Coleman Boyd, Joel Curry, Jonathan Darnel, Eva Edl, William Goodman, Dennis Green, Lauren Handy, Paulette Harlow, John Hinshaw, Heather Idoni, Jean Marshall, Fr. Fidelis Moscinski, Justin Phillips, Paul Place, Paul Vaughn, Bevelyn Beatty Williams, and James Zastrow.

The Fort Myers case lawsuit alleged that the Zastrows, Gallagher, Kenneth Scott of Colorado, and Katelyn Sims, also known as Katelyn Velasco, of Texas, committed the violations in Fort Myers, on Jan. 27, 2022.

The five were arrested by the Lee Count Sheriff's Office on trespassing charges at the time. Gallagher was charged again in Fort Myers in 2023 on similar charges. Scott was also arrested again in Fort Myers, six months later, on trespassing and assaulting an officer charges.

Specifically, the federal complaint alleged that the defendants trespassed onto a reproductive health center’s property, blocked the entrances and temporarily stopped operations at the center.

The Justice Department filed the suit in June in the Middle District of Florida.

At the time of the suit filing, then-Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said: "These five defendants deliberately obstructed access to reproductive health services. Physically blocking those seeking or providing reproductive health services in order to impose their views is unlawful. The Justice Department will continue enforcing the FACE Act to protect against such obstruction.”

In the pardon request letter submitted to Trump, Thomas More Society attorneys urged “that these pro-life Americans are deserving of full and unconditional pardons.”

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